Velo, Masters of the Bow
Insightful Sloths Their physical appearance is that of tall, lanky humans. Fully grown, Velo will stand 9 to 11 feet tall. Their skin varies in tone greatly depending where in the world they live. They have no eyes, but instead posses an intuition that barely falls short of psychic powers. They use bows because they are easy to operate given their extreme intuition. These people are incredibly lazy, and the rulers are voted for by the people for fear of having to do it themselves. Typically, the terms they are elected for are life, or when they resign. Normally, the one elected tries his best to deal with having such responsibility, but the stress put on their normally lax lifestyle proves to be too much after four or five years. Much like the Mikaina, their villages consist of small groups of traveling people not more than one hundred individuals. They like to wander around aimlessly, carrying makeshift dwellings similar to tipi. For food, they are hunter-gatherer based. Most of those in charge of procuring food like to hunt more, but there are a few that are dedicated to finding edible plants and berries. In terms of warfare, because of their sloth, they are largely pacifist. However, with Adalih West directly to their north, they are constantly bombarded with attacks from both Kios and Xerom. Because of this, they have turned their northern shore into a solid wall of defense against these two armies. They are mostly made of wood because of the great forests that cover nearly all of their islands, and also because it was the most convenient thing for them to make it out of. This place is also the entirety of the military the race has. The forts are spread out every twenty miles or so, to ensure that they protect as much area as they can. They have taken to calling themselves the Ashen League, not only because of how grim their lives are, but also because of the large amount of soot that washes upon the shore from Adalih West's mining operations. Most soldiers and some civilians have taken to training their intuition to heights that could actually be considered magical. Some of them have a sort of sight a-la the Daredevil movie. Others have a sort of Force, able to move objects telekenetically. These people, known as the Mantatra, are seen as superior by those not initiated. They consider themselves equal to those without the talent. Each of these three groups have their own headband that they wear. It is usually for ceremonial purposes, but most like the way the material feels on their face, and leave it on all the time. The civilian design is a green background with a series of vertical black lines running across it. The Ashen League's is a black background with yellow diamonds running around it. The Mantatra design is a blue background with a white zigzag pattern. For Mantatra that are in the Ashen League, they are allowed to wear either. Most choose the group that they originally started out in. The Mantatra have a bow limb that can move up and down attacked to the outside of their legs, so that they have 2 bows when sitting in a tree, they extend out and have a string attached somewhere to string it up with. Also, Mantatra bows have large blades attached to the outsides of the limbs for when they are within melee range of a foe. The Velo have 3 main gods: one for the civilians, another for the Matatra, and a third for the Ashen League. Manidjo: The god that the civilians primarily worship. He is the god of Safe Travel, the Woods, and of the Hunt. He takes the appearance of a Velo dressed in typical fur-pelt garbs. He is about twice as tall as a typical Velo and does not talk. Instead, when he needs to communicate with his worshipers, he does so telepathically. Awaban: The god of the Ashen League. He stands for safety, victory in battle, and of Velo patriotism. He is dressed much like a member of the Ashen League would be: tight, treated leather washed in the soot that the guard gets its name from. His headband is similar to theirs as well: the design is that of repeated yellow diamonds on a black background. The Velo have a lifespan of about 150 years. The Mantatra, because of their training, typically life 200 years or more. They have no writing system of their own, but borrow one from the Order of Chaos. The Velo much prefer to pass down their history through oral tradition rather than write it down.